| Title | : | Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0809237962 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780809237968 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 372 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1969 |
Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds Reviews
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Jacques F. Vallee was one of the first scientists to closely study UFO phenomenon. He goes beyond a simple examination and compares it to the fairy religions and mythologies from the past. Passport to Magonia is one of his most well-known works.
Vallee also mentions, in the new preface that he wrote for the book in the early '90s, of the difficulties that he had compiling the thousands of eyewitness accounts that are included in Passport to Magonia. I suppose with the easy connections to the internet that are available now, that I hadn't considered how laborious it would be to gather all of that information together in the time before computers.
At the very least, Passport to Magonia can be admired for its thoroughness in the section: "A Century of UFO Landings." It is approximately 150 pages of account after account of UFO encounters. The amount of information, types of witnesses and manner of UFO phenomena is truly mind-boggling.
Some of the standout examples for me are: Juan Diego's tilma and the sky anchor that was left behind in 1211 a.d. at a church in Cloera, Ireland. And, Aleister Crowley's run in with two gnomes or aliens.
Vallee cites the book,
Magick Without Tears, for the Crowley experience. It makes me so curious- I may just have to look into it.
So many of these accounts are beyond belief, which makes for great reading, but which Vallee reminds the reader, cannot be taken at face value.
He reminds us of our inability to understand the accounts even as he seeks to understand them. Futility, thy name is Passport to Magonia?
Readers who enjoy UFO literature will probably enjoy this classic book. Vallee doesn't provide the answers, but he has crafted a framework for UFO exploration beyond the usual acceptance or denial of a puzzling and reoccurring phenomena. -
This is THE book- it's a masterpiece in the ufology sub-genre in fact- that made me fall in love with Vallee and his work in the field of ufological studies and research. Always taking an open-minded, objective and scholarly approach in his quest and devotion to the scientific study of ufology- all qualities, by the way, which have become his trademark, making Vallee indeed one of those rare gems since he was originally trained as a scientist- He received his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the Sorbonne, followed by his earning his Master of Science in astrophysics from the University of Lille. Professionally he started as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1961, before he finally moved to the United States in 1962 and began working in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, at whose MacDonald Observatory he worked on NASA's first project making a detailed informational map of Mars. In 1967, Vallée received a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University.
Passport to Magonia is rare in that It combines both mythology and folklore to the subject of UFOs to build not only a fascinating and informative background but also an extremely convincing case- one that is both original as well as a well-researched thesis and one that's difficult not to (if not outright totally agree 100 with his thesis immediately) credence to.
A HIGHLY recommended as well as enjoyable book; a scholarly book that should be required reading for anyone interested in the field of ufology!! -
Read this back in grade school - as a kid who read lots of flying saucer books starting in third grade or so, this book was one of two (I wish I could remember the name of the other) that really had an impact on me and shifted me out of the classic "metal ships/nuts and bolts" school of thought by focusing on how much overlap there was between folklore and 20th century UFO reports - NOT in a CHARIOTS OF THE GODS mode, but in an actual folkloric sense. Fascinating and probably helped me not becoming a UFO crank and instead fostering my interest in forteana, folklore and Anthropology. I should re-read this.
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This was a ground-breaking cultural work, exploring the overlap between traditional folktales (such as encounters with fairies, elves, angels, etc.) and more contemporary encounters with what are often called UFOs or a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena).
A common feature in fairy stories is a parallel world, and an element of missing time. Vallee very convincingly suggests that an experience such as this is always viewed within the framework of the current cultural context.
A fascinating book, that opened up a whole mysterious field. If the phenomena is one of parallel dimensions, the story we tell ourselves about that encounter changes according to our cultural expectations.
Vallee is not an author prone to make absurd speculations, and is very readable.
Bonus fun fact: there is a character in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" based on this author. -
This author documents and discusses the UFO/alien phenomenon, and fully acknowledges its existence, without succumbing to the temptation to speculate. The author makes four major points: 1) Modern UFO/alien accounts are extremely similar to events recorded throughout human history describing manifestations of gods, angels, demons, fairies, dwarves, giants, monsters, etc. The similarities are so striking that most or all of these manifestations appear to have a common origin. 2) Science is an approach, not a set of findings, so there is no reason that this topic cannot be scientifically investigated. And the best way to study these phenomena is to avoid speculation and to collect and publish available data (i.e., eyewitness reports and related physical evidence). Also, it is useful to examine the effects that UFO/alien experiences have upon those involved as well as those who read about them. 3) Humans appear to be incapable of creating a theory that satisfactorily accounts for all of the UFO/alien evidence and eyewitness reports. Every explanation proposed so far falls short of providing a believable and comprehensive understanding of these phenomena. 4) UFO/alien phenomena demonstrate properties of both physical reality as well as psychic construction. Overall, this book is a major contribution to the field of ufology as well as science in general. Skeptics and believers alike will not be disappointed.
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3.5 stars. Now I’m off to subscribe to the Flying Saucer Review.
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A must read for any student of the paranormal. Vallee takes modern-day UFO reports, the airship sightings of the 1890s, fairie lore, etc., and places them in a cultural context. Basically, according to Vallee, we are dealing with the same phenomenon; however, secondary characteristics of the phenomenon are able to change in a way to be understood by the cultures of different places and time periods.
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I had this recommended to me after finishing watching Hellier late last year. While it definitely was intriguing in the way it explored the similarities in phenomenon between fairy encounters of old and UFO encounters more recently, I can't say it quite hit that same "Wow" factor that Hellier gave me. Still, many of the stories were fascinating - not sure what I believe at this point, but it's all very interesting to consider. The second half of the book has hundreds of encounters between the mid 19th and mid 20th century to consider in light of the themes mentioned in the first half of the book.
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This book is rightfully considered to be a classic within the Fortean field. The author, Jacques F. Vallée, was a consultant upon Project Blue Book and colleague of J. Allen Hynek. He is an esteemed professor even today, and one of the most level headed individuals to take on the UFO field. This book is the first where he formulates the beginning of a challenge to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. Perhaps, this book dares to say, the UFOs and their 'visiting' inhabitants are not in fact from another planet or solar system. Perhaps they are something closer to home, and far more complicated than they appear to be.
The subheading of this book is "From Folklore to Flying Saucers" and that sums up the contents very well. Vallée presents the idea that there is no true difference between the phenomena of angels and demons, fairies and elves, djinn and dwarves and the UFO inhabitants. He lays out compelling arguments, comparing and contrasting the stories of those who went to the Otherworld of Magonia and returned and those who were spirited away by flying saucers. He compares the humanoids encountered by people throughout the ages, and how familiar they are if only one has an eye for folklore and history. Perhaps, after all, they are the same. If they are the same thing, what does that mean?
This book doesn't exactly dwell upon what it would mean for the phenomena to have been the same over millennia, but the mere fact that this book considers it is important enough. Throughout Vallée's career he did delve deeper into the idea and I truly look forward to reading more about it. For a beginning book, however, this is a fascinating one. If possible, I recommend getting a later addition of it as the introduction was a great read that truly highlights why this book is important and deserves to still be read.
Especially nowadays when the material concept of UFOs has truly overtaken the field and cheapened the more interesting and telling psychological and sociological implications of the phenomena. -
The Fae folk and the Grays—perhaps they are really the same thing seen through two different mythologies? Jacques Vallee seems to think so, although he remains agnostic about the nature of the beings themselves— are they more-than-psychological projections or mind games courtesy our neighbors from the multiverse? Whatever the case Vallee is convinced they're not visitors from Mars and they aren’t merely hallucinations. Whatever the UFO phenomenon is, Vallee argues that it didn’t start in 1947 and has perennial parallels in the folklore and religious mythologies of many cultures. Vallee is scientifically oriented and is not given to enjoyable Fortean speculation in the style of John Keel, although he is playful. This comes out in the lengthy Appendix (which I will read through later and reference) of most major UFO landings reported from 1868 to 1968. Overall a very enjoyable read that I would recommend to people interested in UFOs or folklore.
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I read this as a teenager. Vallee seems to think that accounts of fairies, gnomes, pixies, etc., are really sightings of aliens. Interesting...
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Vallee is careful to state at the outset that Passport to Magonia “is not a scientific book.” (p. 11) Be forewarned, that is a bit of a shell game on his part, and I would say this is one of the most sophisticated and in fact one of the most scientific of all the books I’ve read so far on UFOs. It might also be one of the most misleading. I see on the back of the book that Vallee is now living as a “venture capitalist” in San Francisco. The author is also fairly familiar it seems with the workings of defense and intelligence agencies. There are numerous suggestions of sinister connections here I would say. For all of the foregoing reasons, it is important to read this book with caution. There is much here to disturb the modern (differentiated, ‘dissociated’?) consensus reality, even some rather repulsive references to demonology reminiscent of that fave 70s horror film and book The Exorcist, which was written (or so I’ve read) in part as an attempt to ‘prove’ the existence of the supernatural and hence the existence of God. I have seen 1 documentary (UFOs the Secret History) that suggests Vallee’s intention here is to debunk rather than to support the ‘reality’ of the UFO phenomenon. From a certain angle this is correct I now see, as Vallee ultimately states in his conclusion that the type of wild speculation popular in the ufology mythos (and which perhaps to a degree Vallee had a hand in popularizing!) does not have “a scientific leg to stand upon!” (p. 161) Certainly we “could . . . imagine that for centuries some superior intelligence has been projecting into our environment . . . various artificial objects whose creation is a pure form of art.” (p. 161) We could also fantasize that UFOs are “a natural phenomenon whose manifestations border on both the physical and the mental.” In this context, Vallee even speculates that “human dreams can be implemented, and this is the mechanism by which UFO events are generated, needing no superior intelligence to trigger them . . . [but] it would stop short of explaining the traces left by such phenomenon.” (p. 161) I’m not sure in this context what “traces” he means exactly and it is interesting that the word here is ‘traces’ rather than ‘evidence’. After offering up many accounts (some of which you can Google online and discover have already been debunked), Vallee as I said admits that none of his own wild speculations are “scientific” in the least. He describes this work as “philosophical” but perhaps, given his description of UFOs as “objects . . . of art”, a better way to frame it would be as ‘artistic’. You can see why Spielberg included a fictionalized version of Vallee’s character in the blockbuster film ‘Close Encounters’ - with the famous director Truffaut cast in the role you get artistic credibility atop the scientific. In our modern differentiated society this kind of stacking has some social relevance perhaps. Piling up the social subsystems within which you have some weight is no easy feat. Maybe Alan Dershowitz too approaches this type of status, with legal credibility alongside filmic portrayals, not to mention the scandalous allegations. Carl Sagan had pop culture credentials but was rejected by both Harvard for tenure and the National Academy of Sciences for membership. Like much of the mythos, the material here stumbles about in the twilight realm between a generalist’s sensibility and the specialist’s knowledge. This is perhaps why Vallee’s appeal for “sociologists” to “tackle the problem” (p. 136) speaks to me. Still one may get the (social) impression of Vallee (from a variety of sources) that he lends a certain and nearly scientific credibility to the endeavor, even though technically he is located outside of the academy (in the strictest sense of his professional role in society as opposed to his credentials). I began reading this book with a credulous frame of mind, and I was surprised to find credulous accounts within, which have been debunked as I said. I now see that Vallee correctly indicates his primary concern as the ‘reports’ themselves rather than the underlying veracity. This is a sociological view (and a scientific one) that any communication about UFOs has meaning in society even if it is a hoax. For this reason I will not detail the multiple examples of likely hoaxes within these pages. Perhaps some of these Vallee included innocently enough (especially in these pre-Internet days of yore) but the way this book is written feels somewhat deceptive by its conclusion. Why include a case as ‘fact’ if you know (or even reasonably suspect) it to be a hoax? One possible reason I can imagine to include obvious hoaxes in a credulous manner would be to serve as disinformation, which is a definite risk in this field. Circa 1968 to write such a detailed book about UFOs for purposes of disinformation would have been quite cutting edge. Then again this book is one of the foundational texts for any review of the ufology literature, so it was by that measure quite cutting edge regardless of the intentions of its author. A bit of research into the mythos indicates there is much in common between ufology, ‘misinformation’ and counterintelligence. Any time I hear of a ‘venture capitalist’ with connections to the defense or intelligence communities, it makes me nervous. Vallee himself suddenly appears a bit of a mystery. However, the sociological (scientific) question I have is different. Simply put, will ufology ever entirely cross the line into the realm of scientific respectability? Despite a handful of PhDs who fall into the ‘ufologist’ bucket, and Avi Loeb’s latest project notwithstanding, I would say that ufology as a ‘scientific’ endeavor stubbornly refuses to achieve escape velocity from the orbit of folklore or religious studies. What exactly does that say about ufology or folklore or even our modern differentiated society? Having read a few of these books now, I can say (as any ufologist would) that the sheer volume of encounters commands attention and I would agree that, from the perspective of sociology at the very least, the jury is still out. Despite my inherent mistrust of anyone of Vallee’s status (stature) within society, I remain fascinated by this book. The seductive quality of Vallee’s narrative is simply the power of re-enchantment, which I find to be a common desire of modern man. Modern re-enchantment comes in a variety of forms, in every type of media from the old print format of supermarket tabloids to classic horror films to the retelling of various ‘urban legends’ and yes - in the form of credulous UFO books. Vallee here has written a book that pretends to be credulous but is ultimately highly skeptical, and I find that this approach makes it highly susceptible to misinterpretation. We all inherently want to believe. Within the frame of folklore then, this is one of the better books on ufology, and whether you trust Vallee’s motives or not, a classic in the genre.
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This book is a fascinating read and it well deserves its place in my ufology book collection. It is considered to be a classic seminal book on the subject and after reading it, I can see why. If I had to choose between this book that was originally published in 1969, or his 1988 book called Dimensions, I would choose the latter. The reason being because Dimensions contains much of the material from Magonia and more. What Magonia does have that Dimensions doesn't is an excellent catalogue of cases contained at the end of the book. For me, this is another five star book from one of the most important men in the field of serious ufology.
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The author is an investigator who broke all the rules with his thoughts and ideas on UFOs. This is one to grab for anyone that wonders what is out there.
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His essay is a fascinating introduction to the phenomenon, setting up the basis for the second part of the book documenting 'a century of UFO landings' which has the profound effect of really giving you a thorough account of the phenomenon, the sheer amount of cases, and especially the similarities (such as sightings of 'men in diving suits' and the impact on witnesses) is eye opening to say the least. It is true that little can be proved at this stage as to an explanation of the phenomenon, and that it is, of course, impossible to verify the fairy tales of old, but what Vallee is interested in is patterns and how the unexplainable causes of today perhaps have kinship with that of the old. I feel Vallee's argument could have fallen away if it wasn't for the incredible cases that fill the second half of the book, and really brought the thing home.
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This is an odd, odd book, but an interesting one. It's basically divided into halves: in the first half, Vallee compares UFO close encounters to older stories of fairies and elves, while the second consists of a long list of UFO encounters with dates and other pertinent information.
Other than to note that stories of fairies and UFOs contain many similarities, Vallee doesn't really come to any conclusion -- in fact, he makes it quite clear that coming to a conclusion isn't what he's interested in. As such, it's suggestive and evocative, but that's about it. The list of sightings has been superseded by more recent lists, but it's still an interesting historical record. I wouldn't recommend starting here, but if you're interested in the unexplained, this book is an interesting addition to the record. -
''Attempting to understand the meaning, the purpose of the so-called flying-saucers, as many people are doing today, is just as futile as was the pursuit of fairies, if one makes the mistake of confusing appearance with reality.''
One of the seminal texts in UFOlogy, and one of the first to seriously consider theories beyond both the extraterrestrial hypothesis and the experimental craft hypothesis.
Much like John Keel's Operation Trojan Horse—though predating its publication by a year—Passport to Magonia seeks to synthesise all UFO reports, from the time of Jesus, through the middle ages, and right up to the modern day.
Rallying against the tendency of 'serious' UFO researchers to throw out the more silly stories—only seriously considering those experiences which conform to the nuts and bolts aliens in spaceships hypothesis—Jacques Vallée makes a strong case for the UFO experience as a modern update of myths that have persisted throughout all of human history, in all cultures.
Specifically focusing on indo-European cultural threads—though touching on African, Mesoamerican, Native American, and Eastern mythologies and sources—Vallée weaves a difficult to refute tapestry of shared supernatural experience across continents and millennia.
Though reluctant to hypothesise about the true nature of the UFO phenomena, and often declaring human imagination to be a huge part of the puzzle, Vallée nonetheless believes that the phenomena manifests physically, at least to some degree, regardless of whatever psychic or mythological foundations might lie at the root of it.
The one time when Vallée does edge toward speculation he touches on a theory that John Keel would popularise a year later as the 'Ultraterrestrial hypothesis'—something akin to a force or energy causing strongly held mythical beliefs to manifest physically (even to non-believing observers) when certain conditions are met; almost like a tulpa.
While much dryer and less immediately exciting than Keel's work, Passport to Magonia brings a necessary skepticism to the field.
With a dispassionate scientist's eye, Vallée takes the UFO concept and examines it as mythology, drawing parallels between gnomic and fairie myths, religious narratives, and thousand year old tribal legends of visitors from beyond the stars or beneath the earth. All the while never losing sight of the fact that the UFO phenomenon is observed around the world as something that manifests physically, with photographic evidence, physical trace evidence, and millions of witness testimonies—with only a single instance of any of these types of evidence needing to be true in order to overturn everything we thought we knew about the nature of reality
There are first hand accounts in this book that are deeply unsettling and thoroughly convincing, and parallels drawn between these accounts and mythological concepts that carry disturbing implications.
When placed in the context of the UFO myth, visions of heaven and hell, tales of fairy circles and fith-fath, witches' familiars and succubi... it all takes on a new and very creepy aspect.
When you go to Magonia and they offer you food, politely decline and ask to go home. -
Compré este libro porque lo vi patrocinado en el TL de Twitter de una banda que me gusta mucho, sin saber que de verdad tiene algo de fama, Vallée es uno de los primeros investigadores del fenómeno OVNI y este es un de los primeros libros en donde se trata el fenómeno y sus extraños ocupantes sin suponer que son visitantes de otros mundos (cue theremin music)
Y en ese sentido es muy interesante, Vallée habla de los diversos folclores de varias culturas, con un cierto sesgo hacia los escoceses, irlandeses e ingleses, y te entretiene mucho con las míticas historias que cuenta en el libro, heck, hasta el relato de la virgen de guadalupe lo hace interesante y todo esto lo empieza a entremezclar con esos relatos de naves flotantes de tanto de siglos de ayer y hoy y te lo envuelve en un paquete bonito para decirte que siempre ha sido lo mismo.
Y eso es otra cosa a favor del libro es que no es como un programa de alienigenas ancestrales donde ALIENS DID IT todo el tiempo, sino que el solo te presenta lo que encontró y te dice cual es su teoría al respecto pero ya está en ti creerlo o no, lo cual lo hace bastante único en cuanto al género.
Así que si te llaman la atención los fenómenos paranormales, ya empiezas a encontrar paralelos entre estas realidades y las de Dostoyevsky o simplemente buscas algo quirky que leer, este es tu libro. -
An undoubtedly important book in UFO lore, but no longer a must read. It shows a clear link between ancient folklore and modern ufology, but in this modern era of paranormal research that is a near-accepted fact. While this may be the book that helped shape that view, it now feels like a long read proving something that is already proven. The appendix is interesting but has not been updated, not including anything that happened in recent decades. Still, a good, though not vital read, but an important book.
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Definitely a unique book! It posits a theory on UFOs that is very interesting, very unique and hit me almost totally out of left field.
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This was a very informative read. Vallee's research compares modern UFO sighting and abduction stories to folklore and fairy tales going back almost 1000 years. He takes on the founding doctrine of one of the UFO religion's denominations' (and UFO-ology is indeed a religion with warring denominations) theology that UFOs appeared in our skies after 1945 because of inter-planetary concern over our development of nuclear weapons. Vallee's research deals this theory a fatal blow.
Vallee compares the stories of UFO sightings and kidnappings with the Celtic "Fairy Faith" and other indigenous traditions involving fairies, elves, dwarves, leprechauns, trolls, etc. from around the globe and finds definite similarities. Citing newspaper articles, police reports, church records, and mythologies, he finds stories of "flying ships," behaving in impossible ways in the skies. The flying ships land, contain beings of various descriptions who kidnap people into the crafts or take them to their own worlds, releasing them later with memory lapse, unexplained time lapses, and nightmares about needles and medical experiments performed upon them. He then examines how these beings and craft appear differently to observers and victims according to the culture and collective psychology in which they live.
Drawing no conclusions about the nature of all these sightings and experiences, Vallee proposes one theory that I find much more credible that the prospect of living beings travelling millions of light years through space in mechanical craft to reach us -- the demonic theory. This theory of alien visitations has always seemed more plausible to me, and Vallee's research appears to back this up. Visitation by beings apparently from other dimensions, or perhaps just beyond the reach of our physical perception, are legion and as old as our existence on the planet. That some of them appear benign or even helpful, and others clearly malign and harmful, also corresponds with the experience and folklore of peoples in centuries past.
Apparently, Vallee's book was considered a scandalous betrayal by the UFO community when it was first published in 1969. Not being a partisan to any particular religion, this doesn't interest me. I do, however, have credible experience with people who have been visited by "fairy folk" of various forms and dispositions. From their experiences, I learned that most of them don't mean well. I would call them predators.
Vallee has done a great service by tracing the history and dimensions of this universal phenomenon. Highly recommended reading.
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This is the only genuinely intelligent book on the flying saucer/ UFO myth that appears to have been written. However, even the most casual of UFOlogists may find this legendary piece disappointing. Almost every major case Vallee cites has been reported elsewhere, so there is no major revelation in this. The magic lies in Vallee's own interpretation of the data tying it into earlier myths specifically of fairies, goblins, and even religious miracles suggesting that something other than extraterrestrial visitors is going on.
It desperately needs an update- the material having been collected in the 1960s [published in 1967] and there are a few clangers in as a result such as mentioning Hill 60 Gallipoli incident where at the time it was a reported a regiment of British troops disappeared into a cloud that ascended into heaven. We now know the soldiers were massacred by the Ottomans. Similarly the Our Lady of Knock case of 1879 is mentioned as supporting his hypothesis. Where the earliest sighting involving three beings and an altar in a field may justify an inclusion the subsequent sightings on the wall of the church should not be included- this aspect most likely being the result of a magic lantern projection for political purposes in Ireland at that time.
Nevertheless, these questionable pieces of evidence are few and far between, and this is still a hypothesis worthy of reading and seriously considering. -
Although this book was published over 40 years ago, I found it to be an amazing insight into the UFO phenomena from one of the most credible researchers in the field, Scientist Jacque Valles.
The book offers some intriguing thoughts on the phenomena, and how, throughout human history, what we now refer to as UFOs have also been called Fairies, Elves, Pixies and a variety of other fantastic legendary creatures. Could they be one and the same phenomenon, adjusting to our perceptions?
The book also includes an index of hundreds of reports of UFO sightings from across the world, along with short overviews of the reports. This made for fascinating reading.
I found this a compelling and thoroughly intriguing read, adding something fascinating ideas to the UFO phenomenon that I'd never considered before. -
I fluctuated on this book, but ultimately this is the author's attitude toward skepticism:
"I have not written this book for such people, but for those few who have gone through all this and graduated to a higher, clearer level of perception of the total meaning of that tenuous dream that underlies the many nightmares of human history, for those who have recognized, within themselves and in others, the delicate levers of imagination and will not be afraid to experiment with them."
I wanted to be open-minded on this, because there are some interesting cultural parallels and I think this sort of anthropology is a perfectly viable approach. But ultimately I end up judgmental myself: this book is for people who are too credulous about human nature and seek a meaningful vibe over analysis.
Contains more Batman references than I expected for a 1969 book about UFOs. -
Didn't really connect with me. I guess what irked me most is Vallées very narrow, very human and less than spiritual view of the topic. You're not getting the whole picture if you just choose to look at a slice of reality that feels comfortable to you. Ask indigenous people about their perspective on nature spirits and you will get a very different picture. Don't rule anything out, because another theory seems to be the better fit. Keep an open mind. Find proof. If you cannot find proof, search deeper. Look into every direction.
50% of the book consists of an extensive list of modern UFO sightings which in their brevity didn't do much for my understanding of the topic. However, I found the references to medieval sightings early on in the book very intriguing and insightful. -
The first major book to demonstrate the connection between modern tales of UFOs and alien abductions and the fairy tales and myths of the past. Two-thirds of the book lists dozens and dozens of examples of high strangeness from the past that describe the same types of events that can be found in UFO literature from the past several decades. Vallee makes some surprising conclusions, showing that the phenomenon is not the result of "little green men" visiting us in spaceships, but like the fairy folk of old Europe, they are present in the here and now, invisible, powerful and terrifying, inscrutable, but afraid of mankind and what we are.
